


someday I'll be saturday night

by janie_tangerine



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, M/M, POV Alternating, Past Abuse, Past Torture, Robb Stark is a Gift, Soul Bond, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Telepathic Bond, The Author Regrets Nothing, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, idk man i just got the idea for this and it happened, srsly i mean it the last part of this is ridic fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-03
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-21 03:11:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,819
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3675219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janie_tangerine/pseuds/janie_tangerine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>where Robb and Theon are soulmates.</p><p>update april 29th 2015: now with added different povs for the story in chapter two and three and a side Jon/Sam section in chapter four.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Haha so hello, it's THE WEEK BEFORE GOT COMES BACK!!! [theonweek](http://rhymeswithloveweek.tumblr.com) edition on tumblr again and my first contribution is what passes for a soulmate AU in these parts. I still don't know where the hell it came from, but you can probably notice that I was full-on in my Bon Jovi nostalgia phase when writing most of it. Also I didn't list the other pairings in the tags because really I mostly just mentioned them, but this has background Jon/Sam/Gilly/Ygritte, Jaime/Brienne, Sansa/Sandor, Arya/Gendry, Davos/Stannis/Marya and Bran/Meera other than your regular canon ships. And if it seems at the beginning that I was going to town with the angst you can rest assured that from the middle this becomes really teeth-rotting. As if there was a chance it didn't happen... ;)
> 
> Anyway, as usual, nothing belongs to me and the title is from the Bon Jovi song that I was listening to obsessively while writing this. So obsessively it made its way into the fic actually but I swear it has actual relevance to the plot. ~~also sorry but my Robb is a BJ fan headcanon can't be taken away from me and this lended itself to it so~~ Also I wrote some extra scenes from this from other POVS/in the same verse for a tumblr meme but since they don't concern Theon I'll probably add them to this sometime next week.

Robb Stark gets his soulmate mark when he’s six years old.

He had been living for that moment, truth to be told – he had heard his mom’s stories about how it works since he could remember, and he’s overjoyed when one morning he wakes up feeling a tingle on his left wrist. He looks at it with excitement as he reads the five letters now running across it.

_Theon_ , it reads. Robb smiles – it’s a such a nice name! He doesn’t know anyone named like that, he’s never even heard of it, and he can’t wait to show Jon and his parents that whoever his soulmate is, they really have to be special. After all, it’s a lot cooler than any random common name, right?

And then he realizes that Theon, wherever he is – Robb figures it’s a _he_ name, not that he minds at all – must be getting it, too.

Now, he had been prepared for the moment. His mom had told him countless times. You get your soulmate’s name on your skin somewhere, sure, but it doesn’t stop there. You also can get a faint sensation of how they’re feeling at any given time, if you concentrate hard enough, and it starts plenty soon, after both people get their marks. She had told him about how nice it had felt to feel Ned’s excitement at seeing her name tattooed on the back of his hand, and how it felt the same when he told her he had been delighted when he felt that she was equally happy with hers, on the inside of her calf.

So – Robb keeps on being ridiculously excited about it, and in a few moments he does get a faint sensation.

It’s not _joy_ , though. It’s confusion first, and worry later.

For a moment Robb feels disheartened, then he remembers that not everyone is like his parents. When he asked whether it was possible that he might get a boy soulmate, they had told him that it didn’t change anything, but some people saw that as shameful and actively opposed such bonds even if they’ve happened since forever – they’re not the most common, sure, but there’s nothing wrong with it. Anyway, it might be that it’s the case. Robb hopes that if it is, that the mark is somewhere easily hidden – he’d hate for Theon to get in trouble over it.

Then he remembers that if he can feel Theon’s mood, then Theon should be able to feel his own, right?

He concentrates really hard. He thinks, _I’m sorry but I’ll make it better when we meet_.

He doesn’t know what it is that he feels later, but – it’s not anything negative. He smiles. He’ll take it.

Of course he shows off his mark to his parents, even if he’s not as enthusiastic as he’d have been before. Then Jon comes downstairs asking why does he have three names on him – he has a Samwell on his palm, an Ygritte at the back of his neck and a Gilly on his shoulder.

It’s a no brainer that the only emotion Jon says he’s feeling from everywhere is utter confusion, and so he doesn’t press or say that he’s been getting that constant worrying feeling all over again.

\--

By the time Robb’s nine, he’s punched his fair share of people in the school courtyard over the soulmate mark. He’s the only one in his class with a name that doesn’t belong to a girl on him, and he never hides it, so of course he’s had his fair share of idiots trying to shame him for it. Sometimes he envies Jon because the fact that he obviously has one boy soulmate is trumped by the fact that he might have _two_ girl soulmates, so people are jealous of him instead. But then he feels bad for it, because it’s just the way it is and it’s not fair.

Never mind that while he never thinks too much about it, whenever he tries to feel Theon’s emotions, wherever he is – it’s never anything good. He always gets that sense of worry, a couple times he felt something that he thinks must have been sheer anxiety and once he woke up one morning at the crack of dawn crying his eyes out and without even realizing why.

He had hoped that they’d meet in school – there are two kids in the last year, Renly and Loras, who met in first grade for example – so he could make good on his promise, but it hasn’t happened yet.

He figures he’ll have to hope for middle school at this point. Still, he knows that he could count on one hand the number of times he felt Theon being genuinely happy on the other side of that connection, and it makes him feel horrible in return. Right now, for example, he feels like crying all over again in the middle of his maths class even if he has no reason to – he’s sure it’s not coming from _him_.

That afternoon, he volunteers to look after Sansa and bring her to the park so his mom can go have tea at aunt Lysa’s – he doesn’t tell her that since he loves looking after his sister it means that he’ll spend the afternoon being in a good mood and so Theon might feel it through the bond and it might cheer him up a bit.

When he goes to sleep that evening, he tells the empty room _I’ll make it better when we meet_ , like he’s been doing every evening since he got the mark.

\--

“Robb, are you all right?”

“ _What_?” 

Jon raises both eyebrows at him and Robb realizes that he had sounded… pretty damned angry.

“Did you hear yourself? You’ve been like this for the last six months. And – it doesn’t sound like you at all. Are you sure that everything’s all right?”

“It is,” Robb sighs. And it really is. He has great grades, he loves being in the drama club, he has his number of friends that he loves hanging out with and while he’s made clear that he’s not ever going for a steady relationship until he meets up with his soulmate, he’s never said no to the occasional hook-up, and since he gets along with most people at school he gets laid regularly. Everything’s all right. _For him_.

He figures it’s time to tell the truth. “I think it’s him,” he says, glancing at the name on his wrist.

Jon’s eyes narrow in sympathy – he met Sam a few months ago, he was the new student that arrived in Jon’s class in the middle of the school year, and he had told Robb that he finally understood why he spent years feeling like complete shit at random times when he met Sam’s father. Then Robb had met the guy at one of the school plays and he understood it as well. They’re both still waiting for Ygritte and Gilly to show up, whenever it happens, but for now Robb has seen first-hand that they’re ridiculously happy together, and he just wishes he’d get to meet Theon already.

(Except that speeding up soulmate meetings on your own is more or less forbidden. Robb has never quite understood what’s the big deal, but there’s a whole spiel about trying not to meddle with fate and so on, and there’s heavy fining if people do it, so no one even tries even if people have been protesting it. After all, if your soulmate dies before you meet, you feel pain and then your mark disappears, so it’s not like you don’t know that.)

Anyway, Jon gets it, Robb supposes.

“It’s just, he’s never been the happiest person, but from six months to this time he’s really been low, I guess. And he’s angry a lot of the time. I just – I’m okay. I really am. I swear it has nothing to do with me.”

“I see,” Jon says. “Still, it’s not healthy. Maybe you should… try to tune that out?”

Robb shakes his head – Jon knows how to do that, but then again he had to figure it out or he’d have gotten pretty damn confused, feeling things from three different people at once. But every time he’s tried to explain Robb how to do it, he just couldn’t wrap his head around it.

“I tried. It doesn’t work. But – like, I’d feel bad.”

“You’d _feel bad_.”

“I doubt he talks about it to anyone. If I shut that out too – I can’t. Even if I can’t help.”

“You’re too nice for your own good. But for his sake and everyone’s, I hope that you find each other soon.”

Robb hopes that too. He spends the afternoon listening to his favorite record and watching whatever shows he likes on background while he does his homework, and when Sansa asks him if he can make her a French braid he’s more than glad to do it, and all along he thinks, _I’ll make it better when we meet_.

\--

He graduates high school without meeting Theon, and he goes through university without meeting him either while the anger gives way to what seems like – regret? He doesn’t know but he’s sure that whatever Theon’s doing with his life, it’s not what he had wanted to do with it.

Jon meets Ygritte during his anthropology class, while Sam meets Gilly in his English lit class. Arya had utterly tried to deny that she had in fact gotten a mark when it happened, but it had happened when she was nine – one day a _Gendry_ shows up inked on her shoulder, and she meets him three years later at soccer practice. Bran met Meera in kindergarten two days after his mark showed up. Rickon doesn’t have one yet, but Robb can bet money he’s going to meet his soulmate long before Robb does, at his point.

He’s kind of jealous of his siblings and he hates it, because it’s – not fair. They’re happy. He’s happy for them, too, he just wishes he finally could make good on his promise. The only one who _really_ gets his deal is Sansa, though – she had gotten a _Sandor_ written on her inner wrist when she was ten, spent five years feeling more or less like Robb because apparently her soulmate didn’t have an easy life either, and they had finally met when she started high school. And then they found out that he was three years older than her and that he lived in a foster home where he ended up after his brother had tried to burn off half of his face years before – it didn’t quite work out but the half in question is badly scarred. Sansa hadn’t given a damn, sure, and it had taken her three good months to even make friends with him, but from what he sees they’re both plenty great together now.

So she’s the only one who gets it when he rants at her about how bad it feels to not be able to do a thing, but still, _she could make it better_.

He never had the chance, never mind that the more time passes the more things might get complicated when they actually meet – it’s generally regarded as better if people bond while young, because it’s easier and they get to grow up together and so on, but at this point Robb figures that he’ll take it however it goes as long as they meet at some point soon.

He gets his history degree, which doesn’t help with finding a stable job, and then he figures that while he waits for maybe applying for a PhD, he might as well try to find something else to do, and after some consideration, he enrolls for an ITET course – teaching kindergarten wasn’t his life dream ten years ago but he loves being around children and if he ever gets to meet Theon, he doubts that any might be in the picture. Same-sex bonds are perfectly accepted, but adoptions are still a sour subject. Never mind that he doesn’t know if Theon would want kids anyway, and it’s a living, so why not?

He goes through the course without meeting him. Of course, he doesn’t meet him during his training, either. Nor during his first six months on the job.

Then something happens, but it’s not what Robb had imagined.

\--

It’s New Year’s Eve. Robb is at Jon’s flat along with Jon’s friends Pyp and Grenn, Sansa and Arya and all the respective soulmates, and of course it’s cramped, considering that’s eleven people in a flat made for housing five at most. They’re polishing off the last of the dinner Sam cooked when Robb’s arm starts to hurt.

“What –” He starts, and then –

Then he _screams_ , because he’s sure he’s never felt such excruciating pain in his entire life. His wrists feels on fire and he’s aware of people screaming around him and asking what’s wrong and _oh shit what is that_ and _someone call an ambulance_ and Robb doesn’t _know_ because he just wants to scream his lungs out for how fucking bad it is, and –

Why is his arm covered in blood?

He bleeds out on Jon’s floor, then on the ambulance, and then in the ER, and by the time it finally stops the doctor tells him they’ll keep him for a couple of days in observation because he really lost a lot of blood.

“That said – that’s a strange name on your wrist,” the doctor, a tall woman with astonishing blue eyes, an otherwise masculine appearance, a nose that was visibly broken a long time ago and a _Jaime_ written on her ring finger tells him as she disinfects the wound.

“Yeah, I guess Theon’s not the most common name,” Robb agrees, looking towards the window.

“… It’s not that,” the doctor says.

_What_?

Robb’s eyes go wide in horror as he sees that the letters on his wrist have changed.

And then Robb looks down at his wrist and feels like vomiting.

The letters have changed. And the name on his wrist isn’t Theon anymore.

It reads _Reek_.

\--

He takes to wearing long sleeves and sweaters at school, because even if not as much as the first time, his mark keeps on bleeding out at least once each day and he has to keep it bandaged at all times – never mind that he can’t exactly go around and show that to kids from two to five, right?

One month later and he gives up on trying to be a vegetarian – after the second time he almost faints on the job, he resorts to eating as much red meat as he can. It doesn’t surprise him that the blood tests from the hospital say that his levels of iron are at an all time low. And the worst thing is that – he doesn’t _feel_ Theon anymore. There’s nothing on the other side of the line, except for the damn mark bleeding out every damned day.

And it hurts. It always hurts somewhat. He learns to pretend it doesn’t, and he tries to do anything he can to tune it out – he doesn’t know if the line’s open on the other side, and so he tries to avoid watching sad movies or dramas on television when he’s watching it, he belts the Bon Jovi greatest hits out loud under the shower because that’s the kind of music that puts him in a good mood, and when he finds out that a homeless shelter has opened near his place he goes to volunteer there at least once each week.

Every evening, he still tells no one _I’ll make it better when we meet_ , but he also adds _please get out of this whatever it is._

\--

Three months into it, he has to take a day off work because his wrist bled out so much during the night that when he woke up his bed looked like some prop from a horror movie – he throws away the sheet and runs back to the ER. By now he’s on first name basis with Brienne, the doctor who was on shift on New Year’s.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” she says, sounding apologetic. “And I’ve seen a lot of weird things, when discussing soulmarks. Certainly never a _name change_.”

Robb takes the information in, not that he had expected any differently.

“If I were you, though, I’d try going to the police.”

His attention is back on her at once.

“I thought about it,” he admits. “But – I don’t think there’s much basis to go on.”

“There isn’t,” she agrees, “but whatever this is, it has to be bad. Robb, if it goes on like this I’m going to have to put you in list for a transfusion or something like that. You can’t lose that much blood at this rate. And if this is bad for you, I can only imagine what has to be happening to him. Never mind that – what kind of a bloody name is _Reek_?”

She’s right. Robb knows she’s right. 

He heads for a police station the moment he’s released, but –

But of course he’s told that they can’t do anything, never mind that if they found this guy for him it would count as breaking the law, and when Robb tells them _yes well I’m bleeding out every damned day I think it’s enough proof that something’s wrong_ the cop shrugs and tells him that if they had to pursue every case like this they get they wouldn’t get any work done.

Robb goes back home fuming and thinking all the way, _I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry just get out I swear I’ll find you soon_.

He doubts it’s helping. He also doesn’t know what exactly he should do, because he’s not the kind of idiot who thinks that meeting up with your soulmate means that all your issues are solved, especially when they’re what this seems, but he can hardly do something else, can he?

\--

He spends another month like that until one night his wrist starts itching again, bad but not horribly, and by the time Robb has dragged himself out of bed and into his bathroom, the bandage around his wrist is bloody, not that it’s any news.

He takes it off, ready for another round of cleansing and bandaging it all back up, but when he washes away the blood something feels different and –

He looks at his wrist. The mark reads _Theon_ again.

Robb drops sitting on the toilet and starts crying in relief.

\--

The next day, he still keeps on the bandage just in case, but wears short sleeves for the first time in months under the sweater he has to keep on the job. And throughout the day he gets faint echoes – he’s sure that there’s that lingering sense of worry again, but it’s all very detached. Still, it’s better than _nothing_.

\--

That evening, he goes to the shelter – it’s his usual weekday and he’s looking forward to helping out in the kitchen and maybe lend an ear if someone wants to talk, which is what he usually does.

He doesn’t expect the director to corner him the moment he walks in.

“Mr. Seaworth,” Robb greets him. “Uh, is there something I can do for you?”

“Maybe there is.”

“All right. I told Marya that I’d go help her in the kitchen, should I come by your office later?”

“Forget the kitchen, she’s been told to find someone else. Unless you don’t want to do what I’m about to ask, and in that case –”

“Wow. Did something happen? Because I’m not exactly –”

“You’re the only volunteer who actually took a psych class in college and you’re also the only one that _everyone_ in here likes, which means you have all the qualifications. See, there’s this kid who came in yesterday night – he was bad off. In the sense, he obviously hadn’t had a shower in at least a month, he had three broken fingers on his hand that hadn’t been reset for a few days after they broke, and someone _skinned a piece of his collarbone_.”

“ _What_? Have you called the police?” Robb’s horrified at it – who even does something like that?

“He didn’t really speak much but he made it clear that if we did he’d flee. And he hasn’t talked to anyone other than that. No name, no identification, not a thing – he didn’t even have a driver’s license on him. And he didn’t come down to eat since yesterday. A few people have tried but he hasn’t talked to anyone yet and – well, I don’t like this and I have my hands tied because if I try to call in a real social worker he might pack up and leave. Which is not an option. You think you can try to talk to him?”

Robb swallows. “Well, I can try, sure. I don’t guarantee it’ll work, but –”

“I’m just glad you’re willing to keep an eye on him. Right, he’s in the second of the single rooms on the first floor. We figured he was better off not sharing. I’ll talk to Marya, you go ahead.”

Robb grabs his volunteer badge from the front office and heads for the first floor, not having a clue of how this is going to work, but – well, he’ll improvise.

He knocks on the door. No answer.

“Hey,” he says. “I’m one of the volunteers. Can I come in?”

He thinks he hears a noise from the other side. He tries the handle – the door’s open. He walks inside without closing it and he finally is face to face with the man in question.

Well, _damn_ , Robb thinks, Davos didn’t even say everything. The clothes he’s wearing – old jeans and a dress shirt – are fairly large on him, and Robb can’t even see how much since he’s sitting on the bed with knees pressed up to his chest. And his shoulders are slightly shaking as he looks down at his knees, hugging them with a whole right hand. The left one is lying on the mattress – there are three fingers in a splinter, all right.

And – the thing is that the guy looks honestly terrified, but the first thing Robb thinks is _damn but his eyes are beautiful_. They’re dark, almost as much as his hair, and his traits are all regular and , and Robb can see a bandage running up until it reaches his neck. 

Never mind that there’s a very purple bruise blossoming on his left cheek and that he has a black eye and that they both stand out considering how pale he is.

Robb thinks he’d really like to be face to face with whoever did this. But he doesn’t voice that thought.

“Hi,” he says instead. “No worries, I’m just here in my spare time. I’m not here to do a psych evaluation or whatever it is you’re thinking.”

The man’s shoulders slump down a bit. Just a bit.

“Good,” he says under his breath, before visibly biting down on his tongue.

“I also never said you couldn’t speak,” Robb says nonchalantly. “Actually, that’s what I do usually when I come here.”

The guy looks up at him, obviously confused.

“I just sit down with people and listen to them talk – they say I’m a decent listener and sometime you just have to unload on someone, I guess. And sometimes I help out in the kitchen but not today – they were covered. Say, you think you could eat something? I skipped lunch before so I might.”

“I’m not –” he starts, and then doesn’t finish.

“I didn’t say you had to come with me. I could go, grab us some dinner and bring it here. And I don’t even need to be here if you don’t want me to, of course.”

“No, no, it’s – I could eat. I guess. And you can stay if you want.”

Well, at least he’s talking to Robb, right? He smiles and walks out of the room, closing the door carefully and heading for the mass hall – he says hi to everyone he recognizes, asks Marya for two plates of whatever’s on the menu tonight and hurries back up.

He knocks again, and he walks in when he receives no answer.

“Hi again,” Robb says as he brings in the tray. “Well, here we go. I’ll just take my bowl and sit there, you can take the tray. Actually I’m going to bring it over there.”

“No, wait, you don’t need to –” The guy scrambles to his feet and then promptly falls back down on the bed.

“That’s _fine_ ,” Robb says. “Hey, I volunteer for this, right? Here you go.” He hands the tray over, mindful not to touch – rule number one, even if he kind of wants to give the guy a hug on principle. Then he grabs his chair and starts eating his ramen – he knows that the last thing he should do is pay attention to whether the other man eats or not.

It works – the guy starts eating tentatively even if it’s obvious he must be starving.

Robb really wants to punch whoever’s behind this.

But he doesn’t voice it, and then the silence is kind of too heavy, and the guy’s is looking at his empty plate as if he’ll hyperventilate sometime soon.

“Do you mind if I turn the radio on a bit?” Robb just hopes it throws him out of the moment.

The man raises his eyes and stares at him, as if he can’t fathom that Robb cares about his opinion on the matter. Then –

“Sure. Sure, it’s fine.”

Robb is sure that it’s _not_ , but he does it anyway just to break the silence. He looks for the station he usually listens to at home, it’s all fairly mainstream rock music, so it shouldn’t be anything potentially jarring.

– _wanna blow myself away, don’t know if I can_ , comes out of the speakers and Robb can’t help it – he starts humming along as he throws away his plate. It used to be his favorite song in high school, never mind that he also used to listen to it a lot while studying for finals. It’s also the song he used to sing under the shower to cheer himself up, and maybe wherever Theon is he might feel that it is more or less putting him in a good mood again.

“I wish that I could be in some other time and place, with someone else’s soul, someone else’s face…” he sings under his breath, and then he suddenly feels something that _doesn’t belong to him at all_.

And it’s a lot stronger than it’s ever been.

It’s – surprise? And then for the first time –

He’s always known theoretically that you can hear your soulmate’s thoughts even without a bond if they’re close to you. It never happened. But now –

_It can’t be_ , he hears.

“Do – do you know that song?” The guy suddenly asks.

Robb turns towards him, trying to keep his body language as neutral as he can.

“Yeah,” he answers. “It’s kind of my favorite, actually? I really liked it back when it was released. It always puts me in a good mood. I used to listen to it a lot back in high school and in university.”

“I – I see,” the man swallows. He looks – weird? Before he just seemed scared out of his mind, now it’s different. Worried, again? Robb is sure he can feel panic through the connection.

“Why, you don’t like it? I can change it, if –”

“No! I mean, no, you can leave it. It’s all right, actually – I kinda know it, too. But I never quite grasped the lyrics. It’s – nice. You can leave it.”

Robb doesn’t even think about doing that. By now they’re way past the second refrain and up to the bridge, and while the guy goes back to his food Robb decides that it’s high time he loses his sweater – it’s way too hot inside.

“Someday I’ll be Saturday night, I’ll be back on my feet, I’ll be doing all right,” he hums along with the radio as he remains in sleeves. “It might not be tomorrow, baby that’s okay – hey, are you all right?”

The man’s gone as pale as a sheet while looking at his wrist.

“Did – did you –” He starts.

And then Robb gets it.

“Oh, no! No, it’s just – my soulmate mark, it’s – there’s been something weird going on with it. It started bleeding out a while ago and stopped last night, I was only keeping the bandage in case it started again. But I guess it’s not, I could actually take it off now.”

And then he shrugs and does, because he never wanted to hide it in the first place. And then he hears it again.

_You’re an idiot. It can’t be. It doesn’t happen._

And –

_And_.

And Robb clearly is a complete idiot, because how didn’t he even put two and two together the moment he heard someone else’s thoughts? He swallows, tries to blink back tears and breathes in deep.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“… Sure,” the man replies, looking panicked. Robb tries to stay calm.

“Listen, I realized you don’t want to tell anyone your name, and I’m not going to pry it out of you or anything, but – if I guessed it?”

“Guessed it?”

“You don’t happen to be named Theon, do you?”

And –

And the man’s eyes go wide, so very wide, and Robb can see he’s on the brink of tears, too, and then he shakes his head.

“I – I don’t – I’m not –”

“It’s okay,” Robb says, crouching down in front of the bed without trying to get nearer. “You can say it, if it is.”

And then he holds out his left wrist, those five letters itched against Robb’s skin, and –

“Oh, _shit_ , it’s you,” Theon – because he has to be Theon – whispers a moment later. “I mean – fuck, you’d be – _Robb_?” He sounds like he’s afraid to say it out loud.

“That’d be me, indeed,” Robb replies softly, still holding his wrist out. “And I think it does happen. It’s happening right now, isn’t it?”

For a moment neither of them says a thing, and – and Robb is itching to just touch, and he knows Theon must be too because that’s what generally happens whenever you finally meet your soulmate, but like hell he’s going to bond with him in these circumstances and if he Theon doesn’t tell him explicitly that he wants him to.

“Guess my shit luck’s never over,” Theon says after what sounds like an entirely too long time, only filled by some Tom Petty song on the radio that Robb doesn’t even try to recognize. And he sounds – sorry?

“And why’s that?” Robb asks, trying to keep his voice even.

Theon looks at him like he can’t even believe he doesn’t get it.

And then he hears it – _are you serious there’s no way anyone would ever want anything to do with you stop being delusional_ – and he itches to touch even more, but he curls his hands into fists instead.

“You know,” Robb says, “I can hear it.”

He can see Theon’s eyes get even wider.

“And the only reason I haven’t done anything yet is that I’d be a poor excuse for a decent person if I went and bonded with you right now without you having told me it’s what you want.”

Robb doesn’t know if the most heartbreaking thing about Theon’s reaction is the way he just freezes dead in his tracks as if that information is just completely foreign or the fact that he doesn’t even think twice before asking, “ _You_ want to bond with _me_?”

“I’ve wanted to since I was six.” Robb chooses to pretend that the disbelief in the tone didn’t matter – he can guess why it’s there. “And I don’t know how it feels on your side, but I think you feel that. Also – I don’t think it works like you think it works.”

Theon looks down at Robb’s wrist the moment he’s done speaking.

“Yeah, that’s – that’s what isn’t computing,” he blurts out. “I mean. I do feel it. I kinda always did. I just – can’t quite grasp why you still want to.”

Robb swallows, and – well, at this point he might just go for it.

“Can I tell you a story?”

“Uh. Yeah. All right.”

“Okay. So, on New Year’s my wrist started hurting. And bleeding out. Really badly. My brother dragged me to the ER and when it finally stopped bleeding out – it didn’t really stop.”

He looks up at Theon – he’s gone pale as a sheet. Figures he’d realize where this is going.

“I spent five months bleeding out of that mark every single day. And I spent five months wondering why the hell did it read _reek_ rather than Theon.”

Now Theon looks like he might want to vomit, and Robb would really like to stop here, but – he has to finish it.

“You don’t know how relieved I was this morning when I realized it had gone back to normal. And – I have no idea of what happened and I don’t need to know if you don’t want to tell me, but – let’s be real, look at where we are. I can guess well enough and I don’t care. If you want me to leave for a while so you can get your facts straight I totally understand –”

“No,” Theon interrupts at once, and then he goes still again. “I mean, if you want to –”

“Do you feel that I do?”

“… No, you don’t,” Theon sighs a moment later. And then –

“I guess you should – damn it. Fuck _him_ ,” he says under his breath before his eyes go back to Robb’s mark again. “All right. Guess I have a story for you, too. I also guess you know even too well that I’ve had a bunch of people giving me grief over this damned mark.”

“I think I felt it.”

“Yeah, well, for a moment or so I kind of wanted to hate it, but – I knew what you were doing. I mean, that damned song from before wouldn’t make me feel slightly less shitty just upon hearing it for nothing. You were trying to cheer me up or something all along, didn’t you?”

“Trying being the key word, I guess.”

“Believe me, it was more than pretty much anyone else’s ever done for me. So – so I never really hated it. At worst – I’d think _hey, life sucks but your soulmate is obviously a decent guy so it’s going to be worth it when you meet_ , and I didn’t really want for it to turn out like – like this. Never mind that – ah, shit, you might as well see it.”

And then he takes off his shirt and Robb doesn’t even have time to pay attention to the fading green-ish bruises all over his chest, because then he’s carefully unwrapping the bandage around his collarbone.

_No_ , Robb thinks as Theon drops it to the ground, but the moment he sees it –

He can see his own name there, more or less. He can because he knows it’s there and he’s paying close attention. If only someone hadn’t – hadn’t taken a kitchen knife and tried to obviously carve it out.

And it’s fresh.

“… That happened last month, didn’t it,” Robb whispers.

“How do you know?”

“I ended up in the ER again. Shit, _shit_ , I’m –”

“Don’t say you’re sorry,” Theon interrupts him. “Fuck, you shouldn’t be. Hell, I’m pretty sure you’re kinda the only reason I’m here.”

“What?”

“It was you telling me to get out every other day, wasn’t it?”

“You heard it?”

“I did. And – this happened a couple of days ago.” He waves his hand with the splintered fingers. “I figured – I figured I might as well try. If anything, someone would have given a damn that I actually got out. And I couldn’t take it anymore, but I couldn’t have done that if I hadn’t known someone out there actually might give a shit. So – don’t be sorry. I should be sorry. The more time passes the more I think you deserved a lot better than – that what you’re getting.”

“No,” Robb says at once. “No, I think you’re completely fucking wrong, and you know I’m not lying. I don’t know what it took but – it must have been a lot and if you think it means I could do better – it’s not the case at all. But I’m still not doing anything until you tell me you want it.”

“What – what do you mean?”

“I mean that if you want to bond now, there’s nothing I’d rather do more. But if you want to get your bearings and wait, I’ll wait until you say is the right time. And in any case, I’m visiting here every other day because excuse me but I waited twenty damned years to run into you and I don’t think I’m walking out now. Never mind that – listen, let’s be real, I felt whatever you were feeling for twenty years, I think I know what I’m getting into.” This is why it’s better if you meet your soulmate when you’re young – it’s a lot less damned complicated to sort out, but Robb isn’t going to think about that yet.

Theon looks up at him in utter disbelief.

“There’s _nothing else you’d rather do_.”

“You know that.”

And – and then –

“Fuck me, I really do,” Theon says in a tone so low Robb barely hears him, obviously thinking it out, and – and then he takes in a deep breath, and Robb hears clearly _just do it damn it you felt it you’ve been feeling it for years for once just do what you want you earned it you heard him all along you know that_ –

He holds out his hand to Robb, palm up.

“Are you sure?” Robb asks, even if his instinct is screaming at him to take it.

“You know that,” Theon says, and for a split moment he half-grins before it’s gone, and Robb thinks _damn but that looked beautiful_ , and – fuck it.

He reaches out and closes his hand around Theon’s wrist so Theon can actually touch the mark on Robb’s.

\--

Thing is – from what he gathers, bonding is different for everyone. Some people don’t feel any particular change, some people see each others’ life flashing before their eyes, for some others is different. So it’s not like he had a clue of what to expect.

Certainly he hadn’t expected _this_. The moment their hands touch, he feels completely overwhelmed at first, and then he starts getting random flashes of Theon’s childhood which explain a whole lot of things about what Robb used to feel at any given time, but it’s not a complete picture. So it’s not all of that, but the more it goes on the more he gets it, and at the same time he can hear _exactly every word that Theon’s thinking_ though right now he seems to be stuck on _if you’re seeing what I think you’re seeing please don’t hate me_ , and at the same time he feels hot all over, as if electric energy was running under his skin all over, but it’s not a bad feeling. It’s not a bad feeling at all, and then it’s gone just after he gets a flash of what happened on New Year’s Eve and –

The first thing he wants to do when he’s sure it’s over – it has to be, the tingling is gone and he doesn’t feel hot all over and he’s not getting continuous flashes anymore – is vomiting on Theon’s behalf, to be honest, but then he breathes in and looks up at Theon who’s sitting on the bed and – and he’s using his free hand to try and wipe at his face, except that it’s splintered and he can only use his wrist.

Then he gives up on trying and puts it back on the bed, but meanwhile his grip on Robb’s wrist is becoming painful.

“Shit, I _wasn’t_ imagining that,” he finally blurts out.

“Imagining what?” Robb asks, and damn but his voice sounds so choked it’s almost a miracle he’s speaking at all.

“You seriously said out loud every damned evening that you’d make it up to me since we got the mark?”

So he saw Robb’s life, too, or at least some of it.

“Not when I was getting laid, but yes? I meant it, if it wasn’t clear already.”

“I think I can safely believe that,” Theon blurts, and then he freezes again.

“Wait, what the hell –” He starts, and looks down at his collarbone, his eyes going very wide.

“What’s going on?” Robb asks – from his position he can only see scarring.

“I’ll be fucked,” Theon whispers, and then tugs him upwards, still not breaking his hold on Robb’s wrist. Robb follows, sits down on the bed next to him and when Theon turns towards him –

Well, he can see what’s the matter. The scarring doesn’t look as fresh anymore and his name is clearly visible, as if someone tattooed it over the scar all over again. At that Theon lets his wrist go and they both look down at it – it hasn’t changed at all except that Robb thinks the black letters look somehow darker, but it could be the lightening.

“My doctor would have a field day with this,” Robb mutters.

“Your doctor?”

“Told you, I had to go to the ER more than once. By the fourth, we were on a first name basis. And she said that she had never seen anything like that. If I tell her what just happened she’d probably tell me that we’re both some kind of ridiculous special case. Hey, just – can I –?”

He reaches up with his left hand, but doesn’t move forward as he stares at Theon’s mark.

“I touched yours, seems fair you’d touch mine,” Theon replies, and he sounds kind of nervous but then again Robb is nervous himself, and so he reaches out and brushes the tip of his fingers against it. And he doesn’t know what the hell it is that it’s making him feel but he likes it. He feels a shadow of that electric tingling from before, and he’s warm all over again, and Theon lets out a small sigh that is nowhere near pained. All the contrary.

“’m just sorry about –”

“Hey. Not your fault. And don’t try to tell me I’m wrong. I mean. I – I saw that. More or less. Same as everything else.”

He can feel Theon get tense all over again.

“Yeah? And now that you did see everything else, what – what’s the verdict?”

Robb doesn’t even think about that.

“The verdict is that – well, I spent twenty damned years promising you stuff even if you couldn’t hear me, I should start to make up on that, I guess.”

“You would,” Theon replies, and – he sounds like he can’t quite grasp it still, but like he wouldn’t say no to the prospect at all.

“Well, within reason for now,” Robb says, moving a bit closer. “I mean, we should probably take it slow, but – yeah. I would. Starting whenever you want.”

Theon snorts, presses up a bit against his side, then looks down at his right hand before wrapping his fingers loosely around Robb’s wrist – the moment they touch, there’s a spark running along Robb’s back again, and he’s quick to move back and wrap his own fingers around Theon’s.

“Shit, I never did that with anyone.”

“It’s never too late to start, you know.”

“Whatever. I was saying that after the year I had, as long as it’s… within reason, I think I can handle you starting now, if that was what were you implying.”

Robb knows about the year he had. Or at least, he saw enough of it for the moment, and from what he knows they both might get flashes throughout the week, so he’s positive he will know more very soon.

“Okay. Can you stand up a moment?”

“… Yes. Why?”

“It’d be kinda uncomfortable like this.”

Theon shrugs and stands up, letting Robb’s hand go, and Robb doesn’t pay attention about how his shoulders are automatically hunching down the moment he does. Never mind that he’s looking down at the ground.

_There’s time for worrying about that_ , he thinks, and then he puts an arm around Theon’s waist and one around his back, dragging him closer and telegraphing his motions – Theon lets him until they’re pressed against each other. For a moment Theon stands still as if he has no clue of what to do, but then Robb feels arms tentatively circling his waist and at that he holds on just a bit tighter and –

And he can feel the moment Theon just relaxes against him completely, his forehead pressing against Robb’s collarbone – Robb can feel it through the bond, even if not as clearly as before. He’s… relieved. Definitely relieved. And something else Robb can’t quite place, but – it’s fine. He can work with it.

He debates it for a moment, but then he brings the hand he had on Theon’s back up to his hair and cards through it a couple of times until he feels Theon pressing up against it, and so he does it again, and again, and then he hears it –

– _I can’t believe it’s happening I had no idea it could be like this he won’t get tired will he_ –

– and Robb smiles to himself just a bit. _I don’t think I will_ , he thinks. _Just watch me_. Theon doesn’t stir at that though. Right. Looks like he’s the one with telepathy out of the two of them.

He means to not do anything more than this actually – when he said taking it slow, he meant it, except that a few minutes into it he feels Theon tense ever so slightly and then he moves back just enough to look at Robb in the eyes.

“Wait a moment,” he says, sounding – awed? “Wait, oh shit, I didn’t get it straight until now, but – seriously, _that_ was the first thing you thought when you saw the mark?”

“ _That_ – what, you mean when I actually got it? That I thought your name was cool? Uhm, yes. Why?”

“Damn, I guess you didn’t see it yet,” Theon says, and Robb doesn’t know what is the big deal here, but considering that it looks like they’re getting flashes the more they touch, maybe he will soon.

“Not that I want you to, even if I guess you will at some point. Fuck. ‘Course he’d hate it.”

“… Is there anything I should know?”

“You will, I guess. But – shit, just – _really_?”

“I don’t see what’s so surprising about it? It’s a nice name. It’s not common, so I thought it made the entire thing a lot cooler than if I had gotten, I don’t know, a Michael? I was six, I don’t think at that age you have deeper reactions than that.”

He would really like to know why Theon’s looking at him as if he just hung the moon or something like that, for –

“Kiss me? Unless you don’t want to, of –”

“Wait, no, of course I want to, I didn’t before just because I didn’t know if I’d be overstepping –”

“Yeah, I can feel that, and I don’t know if it’s a good idea just right now, but – do it?”

“Sure. Just push me or something if it’s too much, all right? Really.”

And – right. Of course he’s doing that, he’s been itching to since they touched if not before, but like hell he’s going to rush it. He swallows, puts a hand on the back of Theon’s head and moves slowly, making sure that he’s not rushing it.

Then he moves the other one on Theon’s cheek, mindful of not pressing his fingers against the purple bruise in the middle of it, and presses their lips together without pressing further at least at the beginning – he’s not going to go for it until he’s sure it’s a good idea.

But the thing is – there’s a reason why kissing your soulmate is supposedly different from kissing anyone else. He feels that tingle that he felt the moment they touched first, and when Theon parts his lips just a bit and they kiss for real, he gets it. He doesn’t know how to put it into words but it feels like it’s the most right thing he’s ever done in his entire life, like the two of them are meant to fit together. The tingling goes on as he presses a bit and as his tongue touches Theon’s tentatively and at that he feels another rush of warmth throughout his back and he’s never felt anything like that when kissing someone.

He doesn’t even know how long it lasts, he just knows that when they break it off at the same time Theon’s hands are grasping at his waist hard enough to hurt and that he looks completely flabbergasted, but not in the bad way.

“You know,” Robb says before the silence becomes weird, “that was nice, but I’ve been told I can kiss people a lot better than that.”

“Can you? Well, guess I’ll have time to see for myself, but that wasn’t bad at all. “

“So I should do that again?”

“ _Please_ , fucking yes,” Theon says against his mouth, and Robb closes the distance and does it again except that this time he forgets about being tentative – he goes all in, and it’s exactly as good as the first.

And then Robb realizes that Theon’s hanging on to his waist also because his knees are about to give out and he breaks it off so that he can hold him up at least some, and it ends with the two of them falling down on the cot none too gracefully, Theon on top of him.

“Damn,” he mutters. “Well, thanks for the save. I really wouldn’t have wanted to crash to the fucking ground. All things considered.”

_Bruises_ considered, probably.

And then. “Shit, why did I even _think_ about it,” Theon says, or maybe he thinks that because Robb is sure that his mouth didn’t open.

He sits up and puts an arm around Theon’s shoulders again so that he’s pressed up against his side.

“How about you don’t worry about that and we figure it out tomorrow morning?”

“Wait, tomorrow morning?”

“Sure. I can go ask Davos if I can sleep here. Unless you’d rather clear your head and be on your own, and in that case I’m going home and coming back. But I’m definitely taking the day off.”

“You mean – you don’t have to, you can just come back in the afternoon if –”

“I haven’t taken three sick days in a year and I’m pretty sure they can do without me for one. So, do I go home in a while or do I stay? Your choice, I’m fine with either.”

They look at each other for a moment. Then –

“If you really want to spend the night on this pretty damn uncomfortable cot, I won’t be the one stopping you. Shit, I can feel that you mean that. But – really, you don’t –”

“I want to. Seriously, I looked for you for twenty years, you think I’d go home now? I’ll take the cot. I’m sure Davos will be fine with it. Do you want something else to eat since I’ll have go downstairs?”

“Uh. No. Not really. I’m good.”

Robb can feel he’s not, but never mind it.

“Right. I’ll go tell him, then I call work and I’ll be back. Sounds okay?”

“Yeah. Yeah, sure.”

Robb can hear him thinking that he might not come back, but he figures it’ll be better if he just shows his intentions. So he goes outside the room, calls in sick for the next three days and goes to look for Davos, who hears the entire story before shaking his head and rolling his eyes very openly.

“Robb Stark, you’re telling me that you just met your soulmate and bonded with him in my shelter?”

“Uhm, that might have happened?”

“Seriously, just you. Get upstairs, I’m gonna make sure no one goes in there. And do it quickly, if you bond with people this late in life there might be issues.”

“Wait, issues?”

Davos stares at him for a moment and then shrugs. “Might as well tell you. Marya and I met when we were seventeen or so and it was all right, but both of us had another name, too. And we didn’t meet him until we all were well into our thirties. The first week if we put, I don’t know, three rooms of the house in between us we’d all start feeling like shit and we wanted to touch all the time – it was ridiculous. Anyway, considering how that kid came in yesterday, you really want to go back in there as soon as possible.”

“Right. Right, sure. But before I go, do you think there’s any dessert left?”

“There is no dessert whatsoever today, but the bakery on the other side of the road closes in ten minutes. You might find something yet. Hurry up. And if you want to grab some extra blankets, ask for them when you come back in.”

Robb does and comes back to Theon’s room some five minutes later with a cup of strawberries and whipped cream – he doesn’t have a clue of why he knows Theon would like that, but he had the feeling the moment he looked at the selection, so he just went with it.

When he finally comes back upstairs with the blankets, a couple extra pillows and the bakery bag in his somewhat free hand, he’s itching to be back in the same space as Theon – damn, Davos was right about it. And the moment he walks inside he staggers for a second because he could feel Theon thinking that maybe he wasn’t going to come back.

“Hey,” he says, choosing to ignore that, “sorry, I got held getting these and – well, I thought we should celebrate. As much as one can.”

“… Celebrate?”

“Sure.”

And then he dumps the bag in Theon’s lap before putting the pillows back against the wall and opening up the blankets.

He also doesn’t miss the way Theon’s eyes go wide as he takes the strawberry and whipped cream cup out of the paper bag.

“… That’s my favorite,” he says, staring down at the cup.

“I knew that. Somehow. All yours – the apple pie crumble beneath it is mine. So, should we? Oh, and by the way, our host has made me aware of a side effect of late bonding.”

“Which would be?”

“We might want to be touching all the time for a week or so. Which – well, you felt it before, right?”

“Yeah. It was kind of miserable,” Theon says under his breath as he sits up against the wall with the strawberries cup – he’s also openly leaving space next to him. Robb smiles and occupies it before dragging up the extra blankets up to their waists.

“It was. Which is why I think that I might take the entire week off work.”

“Wait – what, again?”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Robb says with as much nonchalance as he can before digging into his crumble.

A moment later Theon’s side touches his.

Robb can hear him not quite believing that it’s happening, but it’s fine. He’s got all the time in the world to correct that notion, hasn’t he?

 

_One year later_

 

“And then you say that _I_ am ridiculous?”

Robb is laughing as he speaks, though, which is good because Theon wasn’t sure about his plans at all. But he had wanted to do something nice for their damned anniversary, fuck knows that Robb deserved it, but while he’d have liked to treat him for a serious dinner out and shit, he’s only been working again for half a year and bar tending doesn’t exactly pay thousands. And considering that his dad cut him off and whatever money he had before having the disgrace of meeting Ramsay Bolton isn’t an option, well, he can’t afford what he’d have liked.

Maybe in another year.

For now, he figured he’d just make do with what he has.

“Why, is this too cliché for you?” 

Robb shakes his head as he rolls over and lines up to him on the blanket they’re lying on.

So maybe after reconnecting with her (they hadn’t spoken to each other for years) Theon asked his sister a favor. Because Asha lives far out, in a nice residential area that it almost looks like some country village. And she has a nice house to herself, with a large roof, where she and the boyfriend that lives with her – he has no clue if they’re open or not but it’s not his business – have managed to keep up a fairly green garden, and where there’s enough space to lie down comfortably. Both Asha and the boyfriend are out for the next day, and so Theon had the roof to himself. The plan had been fairly simple – drag Robb up there, uncover the dinner he had cooked that morning while Robb was at work (and he has to thank Asha for having brought dessert up there before leaving, because he’s sure the strawberries and cream would have gone rotten if they had been out the whole three hours it took him to go get Robb at work.

He still thinks it’s a pretty shitty celebration, but he can feel that Robb is loving it, and so he tries to not dwell on that too much.

“It definitely isn’t. And you know we could have stayed home, right?”

“We could have,” he agrees, “but – it felt wrong. And I guess we deserved some celebrating.”

He’s pretty damned sure they do – Robb more than him since… well, he might deny it, but Theon could bet money that spending a week seeing his own life flashing in front of your eyes and then picking up the pieces for the next few months can’t have been a walk in the park.

“You deserved that, too,” Robb says, and – right. He can hear Theon’s thoughts. Theon would think that it’s unfair,

( _and maybe he should be terrified of it – by all means, he should hate the idea of someone being able to hear what goes on inside his head at any given moment if they so wish. Except that he knows Robb tunes it out most of the time and he’s only doing it now because Theon hasn’t told him not to. Never mind that it means he doesn’t have to talk when he doesn’t know how to put things into words, which happens more often than not_ )

but then again he knows how Robb feels at any given time regardless of how far they are, and Robb hasn’t been able to do that since the bond was stabilized, so he figures that technically it’s not.

“I mean it, idiot. No one moves on with their life just thanks to someone else. Also, your cooking would have totally been worth that.”

“Flatterer,” Theon mutters before finishing the damned strawberries – they really might go rotten at some point if he doesn’t eat them now – and he can feel how _happy_ Robb is as he reaches for his apple pie crumble. He looks up at the sky – you can almost see the stars from here. Not quite, but it’s the closest you can get.

He doesn’t have to look to know that Robb has moved his right hand so that it’s right next to him – Theon reaches down and closes his fingers around Robb’s wrist, touching the mark on Robb’s skin. A moment later Robb moves back against him, his side pressing up against Theon’s, his fingers going to Theon’s collarbone – he shivers when Robb touches his now mostly healed skin around the mark, and it’s the good kind of. To think he always figured soulmates couldn’t be all they were cracked up to be, or what his mother used to tell him they were with longing (because hers died before they met, and his dad’s had, too, and it had definitely showed that it hadn’t been a smart choice to marry him) – he definitely had the proof of the contrary.

This is the moment where he should just man up and say it, because Robb has to know, he reads his fucking mind, but he should say that out loud at some point.

Except that he still can’t, and maybe still won’t for a while, but still –

“I was thinking,” he says.

“I’m terrified,” Robb promptly replies, their foreheads bumping together.

“You’re hilarious, Stark. I was just thinking, what a coincidence.”

“What coincidence?”

“Hm, we met on a Friday. And wasn’t that dumb song you liked about Saturdays or something?”

He’s plenty sure that Robb knows he’s bluffing – he lived with the man for a year, he has to know the lyrics to most things Robb likes.

But then Robb laughs out loud and doesn’t move back. “Right. So what’re you telling me, you’re Saturday night now?”

He reaches up with his left hand – the broken fingers still move kind of awkwardly, but it could be worse. Robb sighs when he runs them through his hair.

“Guess I might be,” he finally says.

“Good. Give it another few months and maybe we can aspire to a Sunday morning, shall we?” Robb says against his mouth a moment later before he leans down and kisses him slow and easy, his free hand cradling Theon’s cheek so carefully you’d think he was handling porcelain.

He could try and say anything – instead he leans upwards and kisses back, and maybe instead of trying to talk he thinks _I love you and I swear I’ll tell you for real one day_.

At that, he feels something coming from Robb, which is – well, he’s happy. No shit about that. But he also was before. Even if now it’d be more overjoyed than just happy, and it’s such a good feeling that he thinks he wouldn’t mind sensing that longer, not at all.

And then –

Robb moves back again, just a bit, and breathes _by the way, I do, too_ , against his cheek before he leans back in for another kiss.

Maybe he also should tell Robb that he’s doing great in keeping his promises, but maybe later. There’s time.

Though, considering that the moment he thinks that Robb moans into his mouth and kisses him harder, he doesn’t even have to say it – seems like Robb knows already.

Yeah, maybe once he had thought that this whole soulmates business was shit and that it couldn’t possibly be what it’s cracked up to be, but no, now he doesn’t. Now, he’s sure it is.

End.


	2. and have an extra Brienne POV

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY SO: a while ago I was doing this writing meme on tumblr which was basically 'write beginning/ending/a different POV/an extra story with a prompt' for one of your WIPs. And _this_ fic was the WIP I used most for that first round, and it's been long enough since theonweek, so now I'm posting all the extra snippets. Here is Brienne's POV from the hospital scene with Robb. There's Jaime/Brienne in this as if anyone was surprised.

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Brienne says as she looks down at the four letters bleeding out on Robb’s wrist. It’s already bad enough that she’s on a first-name basis with a  _patient_  of hers, but considering that he’s been coming into her ER for months by now, it was bound to happen. “And I’ve seen a  _lot_  of weird things, when discussing soulmates. Certainly never a  _name change_.”

She cleans up the wound some more - the letters are still bleeding out a bit. And she’s kind of getting worried, and not just because  _bleeding out from your soulmate mark_  is hardly normal.

Robb breathes in deeply and doesn’t answer her. He looks worried to pieces, and she can only guess why. She reaches for fresh bandages when she’s sure that it’s not bleeding out anymore and starts taping up his wrist - damn, he’s also a lot paler than the first time he came in on New Year’s Eve.

 _Should I tell him or not_ , she thinks, fully aware that she’s about to tell him to try to break the law.

_Just do it, for fuck’s sake. I can hear you, remember? And since when you care about protocol when it’s about doing the right thing and that whole spiel?_

Good thing that she’s had years to make sure that it doesn’t show up on her face when she hears Jaime answering at her - just her luck that out of all the soul bond effects she could get, they had to end up with bloody  _telepathy_.

“If I were you, though, I’d try going to the police.”

Robb, who had definitely been thinking about something else, turns back to her at once.

“I thought about it,” he sighs. “But - I don’t think there’s much basis to go on.”

According to the law there isn’t, true, but - well, according to Brienne, it’s bullshit. 

“There isn’t,” she says, not disagreeing. “But whatever it is, it has to be  _bad_. Robb, if it goes on like this I’m going to have to put you in a list for a transfusion or something like that. You can’t lose that much blood at this rate.” He nods, biting down on his lip. She should stop here, but - the thing is, she’s worried for another reason, mostly.

“And if this is bad for  _you_ , I can only imagine what has to be happening to him. Never mind that - what kind of a bloody name is  _Reek_?”

He winces the moment she says it, but - that’s the truth of the situation, isn’t it? It’s not just that the name  _changed_  from a relatively normal one, it’s… how it changed. Add the fact that there’s  _bleeding_  involved, Brienne doesn’t need much imagination to come to the worst conclusions. She also thinks that this whole legislation forbidding people to find out their soulmate before they meet naturally is complete bullshit, but she doesn’t need to state that.

“You’re right,” Robb agrees. “I don’t think they’ll listen to me, but - I guess it’s worth a try.”

“Try it anyway. Also, take a couple days off work and eat some red meat while you’re at it. I don’t need to see your tests to guess that the results can’t be better than last month.”

“Yeah, sure thing. Thank you again. I hope I won’t need that transfusion, though.”

“Another month like this and you might. Go now, getting some more sleep won’t hurt you either.”

He nods at her and stands up, his legs faltering for a moment before he finds his footing and leaving, looking so  _sad_  that it makes  _her_  want to shed a tear or two. She thinks about how he had smiled when he told her the name he  _should_  have had on his wrist the first time he was admitted in.

She looks at the time - in  _theory_  her shift is over. Jaime’s isn’t, but - ah, damn it, she’ll just go to the pediatrics department and help him out with paperwork until he’s done.

 _Aw, not that I didn’t think you were missing me, but it’s nice to hear that out loud_.

Of course he heard  _that_.

 _Shut up_ , she thinks without meaning it. Fine, it’s decided, she’s going to pediatrics, and as she leaves the room, she thinks about how dejected Robb had looked all over again and  _really_ hopes that those two find each other soon.


	3. and an extra Theon POV too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For that same writing meme, ao3 user childofthewolves asked for Theon's POV of the kiss in the main story. I was happy to comply. ;)
> 
> This has implied Theon/Ramsay stuff and is fairly angstier than Robb's pov though really, it's fluff all the same.

“The verdict is that – well, I spent twenty damned years promising you stuff even if you couldn’t hear me, I should start to make up on that, I guess.”

There’s a part of Theon who’s fairly sure that he’s making this entire evening up  _someway_ , because while it probably was the logical answer, from what he’s seen of Robb up until now, it still - doesn’t compute. Then again, they’re talking about a guy who’s indeed spent twenty years  _promising he’d make his life better_  and who seems plenty determined right now. And - maybe Theon has no clue of why he’d want it after seeing what mess he’s just fallen into, but thing is, he can’t bother to care right now.

He can’t because he’s tired, the emotional rollercoaster is quickly draining him and the prospect of someone  _finally_  giving a shit somewhat is so tempting, he wishes he could put it into words.

“You would,” he replies instead, and he doesn’t even try to hide that he’d be down with that, whatever it is that Robb’s thinking. Sure as fuck he’s done more in the last fifteen minutes than anyone related to him has done for him in the last fifteen  _years_.

“Well, within reason for now,” Robb says, and he moves so that their sides are touching. “I mean, we should probably take it slow, but – yeah. I would. Starting whenever you want.”

And he has a point - he has no idea of what he can handle right now, not when his head is a complete mess and when three days ago he was -  _he’s not going to think about that_. He lets out a laugh he doesn’t feel and then - he has no idea what possesses him to wrap his fingers loosely around Robb’s, it’s not like he’s ever held hands with anyone, but he feels that warmth he felt when they bonded all over again and something in him relaxes for good the moment Robb grasps back.

“Shit, I never did that with anyone,” he admits, marveling at how nice it feels.

“It’s never too late to start, you know.”

“Whatever. I was saying that after the year I had, as long as it’s… within reason, I think I can handle you starting now, if that was what were you implying.” A part of him is still kind of skeptical, true, but now that they’re here - maybe he really wants it, even if he doesn’t know what to expect.

“Okay. Can you stand up a moment?”

“… Yes. Why?”

“It’d be kinda uncomfortable like this.”

Theon has no clue of why Robb would want that, but okay, sure, he can do that. He lets his hand go - pity, he was liking it - and stands up, and he knows that he shouldn’t be looking at the ground but he trained himself to one month into -  _he’s not going to think about it_  - and he really can’t do differently for now.

He can feel Robb getting kind of worried, but then he moves forward slowly enough that Theon could back off if he wanted. But he doesn’t. And then Robb’s hands are around his back and his shoulders and -

It’s probably sad he doesn’t know what to do with it. The last time someone hugged him he was… he doesn’t even remember, but his mother was still alive.

He spends a moment without really knowing what to do, then he realizes that like,  _maybe_  in these cases you hug someone back, and he tentatively puts his hands on Robb’s back. At that Robb’s hold goes tighter and -

_Shit_ , he wasn’t expecting that feeling to come back  _again_  but he’s warm all over once more, he’s noticing that Robb is purposefully keeping his hands in places that aren’t bruised, and it feels so  _nice_ , he just lets himself sag forward and he doesn’t know how he doesn’t end up crying against Robb’s shoulder or something equally embarrassing. And maybe he goes close to it again when a moment later one of Robb’s hands starts carding through his hair very tentatively - shit, it feels  _good_ , and he’s entirely not adjusted to being treated like this at all, and he can’t help that traitorous thought -

_I can’t believe it’s happening I had no idea it could be like this he won’t get tired will he_

_-_ but then Robb doesn’t move at all and… it’s nice. Really nice. So he doesn’t move, and takes it in, until he’s blinking and he’s getting another one of those flashes he had back when they touched.

That’s Robb at six again, staring at his wrist and looking like he’s overjoyed with what he got. He spares a moment to think that the enthusiasm is adorable, but then he can hear what Robb’s thinking as he looks down at his name written clearly on his skin, and -

_Wow that’s so cool, I don’t know anyone named like that. I need to show it to Jon and mom and dad. They’ll be so thrilled that I got someone special_ , he hears  _very_  clearly, and -

He goes rigid. He knows he goes rigid, but he just can’t process that, not when -

Not  _when_  -

“Wait a moment,” he says, moving back and looking straight into Robb’s very worried eyes. “Wait, oh shit, I didn’t get it straight until now, but – seriously,  _that_  was the first thing you thought when you saw the mark?”

“ _That_  – what, you mean when I actually got it? That I thought your name was cool? Uhm, yes. Why?” And he says it with such nonchalance. If only he knew.

“Damn, I guess you didn’t see it yet.” Robb just looks at him blankly and shakes his head. Damn, he didn’t. “Not that I want you to, even if I guess you will at some point. Fuck. ‘Course he’d hate it.”

(Of course  _he_  would have.  _Such a strange name. Almost distasteful. I think I can find you a better one. Do you want me to find you a better one? Of course you do, don’t you_?)

“… Is there anything I should know?” Robb is starting to sound really worried here.

“You will, I guess. But – shit, just –  _really_?” Meanwhile,  _he_  can’t stop turning it over in his head. Damn, this is getting embarrassing fast.

“I don’t see what’s so surprising about it? It’s a nice name. It’s not common, so I thought it made the entire thing a lot cooler than if I had gotten, I don’t know, a Michael? I was six, I don’t think at that age you have deeper reactions than that.” Which is most probably true, but the thing is that he just  _doesn’t get it_ , and that’s good that he doesn’t for now, actually. He will eventually, he’s sure of that, but right now Theon just really wants to make him get what it means, never mind that half the reason why he decided he was done with Ramsay and Reek and Ramsay’s fucking basement was also that nagging voice at the back of his head telling him he was worth more than that. It’s just so fucking ironic that the first thing that psycho tried to do was take his name away and then take  _Robb’s_  too while the first thing Robb did was thinking it was  _nice_. Shit, he’s over in his head right now, and he kind of really wants to kiss Robb now, and he knows it might be a catastrophically bad idea considering what he’s been up to for the last half year, but -

“Kiss me? Unless you don’t want to, of –” He starts, doubt creeping on him, but then Robb’s eyes go wide and he shakes his head quickly.

“Wait, no, of course I want to, I didn’t before just because I didn’t know if I’d be overstepping –” Shit,  _for real_? … Well, not  _for real_. Theon can definitely feel it coming from him.

“Yeah, I can feel that, and I don’t know if it’s a good idea just right now, but – do it?” 

“Sure. Just push me or something if it’s too much, all right? Really.”

He’s not too sure he could bring himself to, but then he nods and he’s aware that he’s never once in his life kissed someone he  _really_  liked, and then he has no clue of what to expect, but then Robb’s hands are on his face, and  _he’s purposefully avoiding whatever bruises he has on there and shit is he real_  and the moment their lips touch he doesn’t feel like recoiling at all. And then he feels that tingle run through his back again as Robb doesn’t move at all and  _is he leaving him the upper hand of course he is_  and he can either freak out or kiss back.

Thing is, he thinks with elation, he doesn’t feel like freaking out at all. And he wants to kiss back more than he wants to listen to that part of him saying  _what the fuck are you doing don’t push this you’ll end up freaking him out somewhat because that’s what you eventually do_.

He exhales and parts his lips instead.


	4. and the Jon/Sam backstory since we're at it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> aand last one! Totally unrelated to the main story. ;)
> 
> So, always for the aforementioned writing meme, [thequeenrhaenyra](http://thequeenrhaenyra.tumblr.com) prompted _beauty_ with Jon/Sam and since this WIP had it, here we go, first meeting in this universe when they're fifteen and they still haven't hooked up with the other two angles of their square. ;) and that's all of it I have for now but I just wanted everything together.

So, thing is, Sam had always sort of maybe thought that there had to be a catch in  _him_  getting _three_  soulmates. Mostly, it was because of his father and brother - his father had always dropped all these hints implying that if he didn’t work out more, or behave more  _like a real man_  whatever that meant, all three people would have ended up completely disappointed in him. His brother never dropped  _hints_  - he just flat-out told him. Now, Sam more or less had the upper hand - Dickon might be better at sports and be conventionally attractive and everything, but still,  _Sam_  was the one with  _three_  soulmates, not him, and the reminder always worked.

But he always had harbored the doubt. Sure, his mother had constantly reassured him that soul marks exist because of a reason, you don’t just  _reject_  your soulmate unless you’re a complete bastard, and people who are terrible to others usually aren’t to  _their_  soulmates (and Sam has an example in front of his eyes -  _his own parents_ , for that matter).

Then it happens that they move to London and Sam walks into class on the first day of school feeling completely self-conscious also because he’s late, but he got on the wrong bus that morning. The teacher is sympathetic and there’s a free place in third row, and so he heads there, and suddenly he feels a strange pull on the outer side of his left arm.

Wait.

He looks down at the other kid sitting next to the empty place, and the first thing he thinks is, _wow_. Because he’s  _gorgeous_ , or at least he is to Sam - curly black hair, grey eyes, pale skin, tight shirt and jeans that make Sam guess he has to be on the track team or something, exactly the kind of guy Sam had always dreamed would look his way. And then his arm  _hurts_ , and wait, that’s exactly where the first soul mark that showed up is -

And then the kid winces and looks down at his palm as if it’s hurting, too, and then he looks up at him again, his eyes going slightly wide, and -

“Snow, Tarly, what is with the staring contest?” Mrs. Sand asks, but Sam can barely hear her, because -

“Uh, Jon?” He asks, and just at the same time the other boy speaks and says, “Sam?”.

They stare at each other for a second, and then -

“Well, that’s my luck,  _of course_  I had to get the soulmates on my first day. You two, congratulations but you can’t do this in front of thirty people so how about I excuse you both for the day and you get it out of your system in the yard or  _wherever you want_ , okay? Go, get your things,  _now_.”

Sam swallows and waits for Jon to do it since he hadn’t unpacked yet, trying not to touch even if he’s itching to, and then after they’re out of class Jon stops for a moment, and then -

“Right, this way,” he says, and Sam follows him to the ground floor. Jon stops to talk to a janitor who takes a look at the two of them, shrugs and says that as long as their teacher confirms their story he doesn’t care before leading them to a door, opening it and telling them to get inside.

And Sam finds himself into a relatively large room with a stage - right. There was a sign with _drama club_ on just outside the door.

“There’s no one around here at this time,” Jon says, and  _shit_  but he has a lovely voice, too, and Sam is completely smitten already.

“Oh. Good. So, er, oh my god, I so hadn’t thought -”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Jon says quickly, his cheeks slightly red. “And - shit, listen, if you want to wait I guess it’s okay, but if you don’t -”

“I  _want_  - no, actually, if  _you_  want to wait -”

“I  _don’t_ ,” Jon interrupts. “Why would I want to?”

Sam is about to say  _well have you looked at me_ , but by that point the pull is way too strong. He just raises up his coat sleeve and his shirt sleeve, showing the neat  _Jon Snow_  written across it. Jon smiles and a moment later he holds up his palm. Right. It reads  _Samwell Tarly._  In Sam’s own handwriting. Before Sam can start freaking out, Jon has reached out and wrapped his fingers around his arm, and -

And a moment later Sam feels breathless and awed and completely out of his depth, while Jon has moved closer and is shaking his head minutely.

“Well, guess  _that_  was why sometimes I felt like one of you three had self-esteem issues. Crap, I’m sorry, that so was  _not_  the first thing -”

“No, no, that’s - that’s okay, it’s kinda true, after all. But - you saw -”

“Uhm, it looks like I’m in the group of people who… sees the other’s life passing in front of their eyes or how you call it. You’re not, I guess.”

“No, but I think I can hear what you’re thinking. And -”

“And I think that I’m going to try and make sure you stop assuming things about yourself that aren’t true before the girls come into the picture,” Jon replies slowly, moving a tiny bit closer, and then he smiles just a tiny bit and Sam thinks that he could faint, and  _damn but Jon can hear him can’t he_  -

“I can,” Jon says, laughing a bit.

“And what would those things be?” Sam asks, swallows.

“For one? Don’t ever assume you’re  _not_  my type,” Jon says, and then he leans in closer, his hand still grasping at Sam’s arm -

Fine, Sam hadn’t thought that his first kiss would end up being in an empty auditorium with Jon pressing him up against the wall and kissing him  _very, very_  thoroughly, and Sam can  _hear_  him thinking  _yes yes finally_  whenever he concentrates on it, and as he sighs into Jon’s mouth and reaches up to tangle his fingers in Jon’s hair, he decides that no, for once there’s most probably no catch at all.

 

End.


End file.
